The present invention relates generally to the field of cleaning devices used for the manual collection of debris on a floor and more particularly to the combination of a broom and a dustpan.
Dustpans are well-known and widely used in commerce to facilitate the collection of debris on a floor or like surface. A dustpan is conventionally in the form of a pan-shaped scoop which comprises a substantially flat bottom panel, a pair of spaced apart side panels which protrude orthogonally up from opposite sides of the bottom panel and a back panel which extends between the pair of side panels along the rear edge of the bottom panel. Together, the bottom panel, the back panel and the pair of side panels at least partially define a debris collection cavity therebetween.
In use, a broom is used to sweep debris present on a floor or like surface over the front edge of the bottom panel and into the cavity defined by the dustpan. Commonly, the front edge of the bottom panel tapers in narrowly to a sharpened edge to facilitate the loading of debris into the cavity of the dustpan. With debris disposed in the cavity of the dustpan, orientation of the bottom panel in such a manner so that the front edge of the bottom panel is equal to or above the horizontal plane causes the debris to remain collected in the cavity. Debris collected in the cavity is preferably discarded by positioning the front edge of the bottom panel over a debris collection device, such as a trash can, and then pivoting the dustpan so that the front edge of the bottom panel is disposed beneath the horizontal plane, thereby causing the debris to slide along the bottom panel and exit the cavity of the dustpan over the front edge of the bottom panel.
A hand-held dustpan is one type of dustpan which is well-known and widely used in commerce. A hand-held dustpan typically comprises a short handle which is fixedly mounted onto and protrudes rearwardly from the back panel of the pan-shaped scoop of a conventional dustpan, the short handle extending in substantially the same plane as the bottom panel of the scoop. In some instances, the handle is shaped in such a way as to be removably mountable on the handle of a broom.
Although well-known and widely used in commerce, hand-held dustpans of the type described above suffer from a notable drawback. Specifically, when handling a hand-held dustpan, a user is required to bend over significantly in order to position the front edge of bottom panel of the scoop against the flooring surface. As can be appreciated, a user may experience significant physical discomfort or injury as a result of having to bend over in this manner, which is highly undesirable.
Accordingly, stand-up dustpans (also commonly referred to as upright pans or control handle-operated dustpans) are well known in the art. Stand-up dustpans differ from hand-held dustpans in that, inter alia, stand-up dustpans can be operated with the user disposed in an upright position whereas hand-held dustpans, in most application, can only be operated with the user disposed in a bent-over position.
A stand-up dustpan typically comprises an elongated, one-piece handle that is pivotally coupled to the pan-shaped scoop in such a manner that the scoop is capable of pivoting relative to the handle between first and second positions. With the scoop oriented in its first position, the bottom panel is disposed substantially in parallel to the handle, the front edge of the bottom panel facing upward so as trap any debris collected within the cavity of the scoop. With the scoop oriented in its second position, the bottom panel is disposed substantially at a right angle relative to the handle, thereby disposing the scoop in the optimal position to sweep debris into its cavity.
It should be noted that conventional stand-up dustpans are typically constructed or weighted in such a manner that the scoop resiliently returns to its first position. In order to dispose the scoop in its second position, the user is required to downwardly urge the rear of the bottom panel against the flooring surface through manipulation of the handle, thereby pivoting the bottom panel into its near horizontal position.
A stand-up dustpan is commonly offered for sale in combination with a broom in order to provide a consumer with a complete unit for removing debris from a floor. Such a broom has a one-piece handle and is typically shorter than a full-length broom. Often a clip or like fastener is used to couple together the broom and the stand-up dustpan when they are not being used. Both the broom and the stand-up dustpan are sold in a fully-assembled state and with very limited packaging.
As can be appreciated, the shipping, storage and display for sale of the combination of a fully-assembled broom and a fully-assembled stand-up dustpan introduces a number of significant drawbacks.
As a first drawback, due to its relatively large size, the combination fully-assembled broom and fully-assembled stand-up dustpan is considerably expensive to ship.
As a second drawback, due to its relatively large size, the combination fully-assembled broom and fully-assembled stand-up dustpan requires a considerably large amount of storage space prior to sale.
As a third drawback, due to its relatively large size, the combination fully-assembled broom and fully-assembled stand-up dustpan requires a considerably large amount of shelf space at the point of display for sale (e.g., the shelf space of a retail store).
As a fourth drawback, due to its limited packaging, the combination fully-assembled broom and fully-assembled stand-up dustpan is inadequately protected during its shipping, storage and display for sale. As a consequence, each item is rendered susceptible to damage.